Migrant workers being brought in by their employers

Firms used the ICT scheme, which is exempt from the annual cap, to bring 29,700 workers into the UK in the 12 months to September 2011.

But the number of workers coming to the UK on a general skilled worker visa could be as low as 10,000, despite last year’s new limit of 21,700, the Government’s immigration advisers said.

The Migration Advisory Committee (Mac) said the limit should remain the same for 2012/13.

But it said ICTs, used by firms to bring their own people into the UK for more than a year to do specific jobs, should be kept under review.

The Mac said the number of ICTs per million of the population “are substantially higher for the UK” than for comparable countries such as the United States, Spain, Canada, Australia, Japan, Germany and Ireland.

Mac chairman Professor David Metcalf said some intra-company transfers were vital “such as the Japanese auto engineer testing cylinder heads made in Japan and training British workers to do such testing”.

Other types of intra-company transfers had evolved, particularly third-party contracting in information technology, where it was possible the UK economy benefited overall even though some British workers were displaced.

Prof Metcalf went on: “They are doing absolutely nothing wrong here, but it’s consultancy companies bringing workers in, typically IT workers, typically from India.” This needed to be kept under review, he said.